


In A Tub Just Thinking Of You

by SereneIngram



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Anniversaries, M/M, Memories, Pictures, Proposals, Thanksgiving, lonely
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:22:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23731537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SereneIngram/pseuds/SereneIngram
Summary: Iwaizumi had broken up with Oikawa a while ago, it was for the best, they had both agreed.  But now it’s Thanksgiving and he’s stag at his family dinner, not that that stops everyone from bringing up his well-loved ex-boyfriend.
Relationships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru
Comments: 2
Kudos: 61





	1. In A Tub Just Thinking Of You

“Hajime,” his favorite little cousin ran from the backyard into the kitchen where his aunt and he were exchanging stuffing recipes.

“Asami,” Iwaizumi laughed and pulled her into his arms. 

“I missed you,” she smiled and cuddled into his arms. 

“You missed me?” He asked, holding her a little ways away from him. “I barely recognized you with how big you've gotten.” 

“I've grown three inches,” she said proudly. 

“Wow, no way,” he kissed her forehead. She started to squirm. 

“Where’s Toru? I want to show him how much I've grown,” she said, smiling almost as if she didn’t understand the devastating blow she’d just delivered to Iwaizumi. Which to be fair she didn’t. 

“Oh, he’s not coming today sweetheart, I’m sorry. I should have told your mom.” 

“But doesn’t he miss me?” her eyes welled up with big crocodile tears. 

“Of course he misses you,” Iwaizumi kissed her head softly.  _ And I miss him,  _ he thought to himself sadly. “He just, he was writing a paper, he couldn’t put it off.” 

“That sounds very responsible,” Asami’s mother said. “Why don’t you go play with Kantaro outside?'' She took her daughter from Iwizumi’s arms and set her down ushering her out the door. 

“Thanks aunt Kana,” Iwaizumi smiled at her. 

“He’s not writing a paper is he?” Kana said suddenly and Iwaizumi had half a mind to take his thank you back. He hadn’t wanted his little cousin to stop talking about it so that he could talk about it with someone else. 

“No he’s not. We’re not together anymore.” 

“Oh Hajime,” she hugged him tightly. “I’m so sorry. I know how much he meant to you. Sometimes things happen, don’t blame yourself.” I’m not, he wanted to scream. If it was anyone’s fault it was shittykawa’s. Him and his stupid flirtatious attitude, going around hitting on anything that moved, even girls, which made no sense to Iwaizumi since he was positive the guy was gay. Either way with them headed off to different colleges it had made the most sense. Iwaizumi loved Oikawa, he just didn’t trust him. 

“It’s fine aunt Kana,” he squeezed her for a moment. “I just want to see my family and forget about the whole thing,” he smiled and pulled away. “Besides, your broth is about to boil over.” She squealed and quickly turned her attention back to dinner, talking only over her shoulder to him. It drove Iwaizumi crazy that no matter how many times he proved what an excellent cook he was he was never allowed to help contribute to family meals in any fashion, even a salad would be nice at this point. But he sighed, watched his aunt Kana cook and convinced himself to believe what he told his aunt, it was fine. 

He believed himself for about twenty minutes until relative after relative asked about Oikawa, or in some audacious instances just came up and started talking about it. It would be nice if his family could give the pretense of not being horrible gossips. 

So forty minutes later he excused himself from his senile grandmother asking who in hell would give her great-grandchildren now. It was too frustrating explaining to her that biologically that wasn’t going to be him anyways and if he was going to adopt he could do it just as easily alone. 

He went up to his great aunt Susan’s bedroom and locked himself in her spacious bathroom. No one really came up here when the family was together anyways so he felt pretty secure that no one would notice. If anything they would notice their topic of gossip was gone before they noticed the bathroom door shut. He had wanted to sit somewhere that made sense, like a stool or the counter but his great aunt Susan was a slob and the chairs in front of her vanity were covered in rejected outfits from today’s hasty morning routine and the counter was littered with different kinds of make ups and face washes. 

Instead Iwaizumi sat in the tub and didn’t resist as he slid into more of a lying position. 

Looking up at the ceiling he started to really question his decision to leave Oikawa for the first time since it had happened. Of course he had slaved over the choice for weeks before finally telling his ex. But since he had said it he had locked his option to look back away, kept it under lock and key. But now, with everyone else around him questioning his choice, his uncle Steven had been the one to wrangle out of him who had left who and uncle Steven was married to aunt Lydia who couldn’t keep a secret to save the whole human race. 

He and Oikawa, in a lot of ways, it had been the most exhausting two years of his life, well one year and ten months. But exhausting or not, they had been happy. He pulled his phone out, his screen saver was now a team picture of Aoba Johsai before their last game, instead of one of the ridiculous faces that Oikawa had a habit of switching it to. 

He opened his phone and went into photos, unlocked the album he had banished all of their pictures to. He still had every ugly screensaver that idiot had put on his phone, something Oikawa had a habit of relentlessly teasing him for. He had the pictures from their six month anniversary trip. The two had taken the train into Tokyo for the day and actually bothered to go and find the real Tokyo Tower, instead of just pointing at random tall structures or wondering silently. They had stayed the night in Tokyo so they could enjoy watching it light up. They had quite a few pictures from that anniversary and a lot of the times Iwaizumi thought his favorite should be the one of them kissing in front of it, the sky pitch black and the tower shining brilliantly behind them, Oikawa shining even brighter. But it wasn’t, he loved it still of course, but his favorite by far was the picture of Oikawa staring out of the observatory window, smiling like he had just seen an alien spacecraft, face turned halfway back at Iwaizumi, frozen in time smiling. Oikawa had blushed vibrantly when he realized Iwaizumi had snapped a picture, and Iwaizumi liked that one too, smiled now as he stared at it. 

The next huge chunk of unadulterated Oikawa pictures was from the time that an alien exhibit opened. Iwaizumi had taken Oikawa as a surprise, he had wished it had been closer to a birthday or anniversary or something but it hadn’t, so it was just a regular outing. It hadn’t stopped Oikawa from going absolutely nuts though. He had cried when they had gotten there, shared an overly passionate kiss for where they were and dragged Iwaizumi around the inside for six hours, insisting on getting pictures of the exhibits without him but also with him looking at them. 

Of course Oikawa’s phone had died about four hours in so Iwaizumi’s had to suffer the rest of the alien overload. The pictures were close to the two hundred count with very little real substance, except when they were in an interactive exhibit and Oikawa got spooked by a moving life sized alien. 

That set also had the first erotic pictures the couple had ever taken together. Anniversary or birthday be damned that was still the best sex Iwaizumi had ever had. The couple sexted a lot, sending nudes back and forth but it was the first time that Iwaizumi had taken pictures of Oikawa while they were together, and the first time he had allowed him to do the same. It was not however the last time. 

The next set, predictably was their one year anniversary. For their one year Oikawa had booked them a week stay at Hoshinoya Kyoto, it was breathtaking. With a river just a mile away from the hotel the two had spent hours taking ferries or fishing or just messing around in it. 

The hotel was gorgeous and Iwaizumi was ashamed to admit that he was surprised Oikawa had done something so wonderful for him. There was a lot of fresh air in the hotel and the two had spent most of their time outside, thankful to be away from the city. They had done several hikes and enjoyed the countryside before returning home. The vast amounts of nature and the hotel’s own beauty meant it was nearly impossible for Iwaizumi to pick a favorite picture from the trip. 

But if he had to try it was most likely tied between the picture of Oikawa sitting in a Cherry Blossom tree smiling down at him or the one of them kissing, one inside and one just outside the window. But if he was being honest, the one of them holding hands and Oikawa’s ill timed selfie as Iwaizumi helped him cross a river was pretty cute too. 

He scrolled down a bit and smiled instantly seeing the picture of the picnic Oikawa had set up for them too, another cute one. He was just as mesmerized a few moments later by the picture of Oikawa in a traditional kimono for the lantern festival he had insisted they go to. He had told Iwaizumi that they were really lucky the festival coincided with their anniversary. They had gone, of course, and Iwaizumi suddenly remembered that he had planned to propose at that festival someday. But now, that would never happen. Because now they weren’t together. 

He was just about done scrolling through the pictures to the bottom when he noticed some he hadn’t seen before. They were pictures of Oikawa, really stupid looking ones, the kind that would have been his screensaver. The kind that, that made Iwaizumi remember how much he loved him. He started to cry. Just because something was the best thing for you didn’t make it any easier. He still thought about the ring stuffed to the back of his sock drawer all the time. He still ran into Oikawa at school. He still avoided eating at certain places because they used to go there all the time, together. He still woke up confused and alone sometimes. He still whispered ‘I love you’ to the cold night air. He still thought about their future. He could still remember what his heartbeat felt like the quick stutter underneath his ear. He could still remember it all. And it hurt. He loved his ex so much. 

“Iwa-chan?” he heard suddenly and his heart stopped. He wiped quickly at tears that were still escaping from his eyes and looked at his phone as if it burned him. “Iwa-chan,” he heard again. He had called someone, he blinked at it. 

“H-Hello,” he raised it to his ear, some of his tears getting smashed between his flushed cheeks and the cool glass of his phone. 

“Hey are you ok?” Toru’s soft voice floated into his ear. He had sounded annoyed before but now he just seemed concerned. 

“I’m fine,” Iwaizumi said, sniffing. 

“Did you forget the homework or something?” Toru sounded wary. 

“Uh, no, sorry, I um I didn’t mean to dial you.” 

“Oh,” his voice was strained, pain. “That makes more sense. Good bye then, I’d hate to keep you.” 

“Asami has grown three inches,” Iwaizumi spat out suddenly. 

“Oh,” Toru was surprised. “Wow,” he cooed as if she could hear him now. “She’s getting so tall.” 

“Ya, I’m at my family’s stupid Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone’s asked about you.” Iwaizumi rolled his eyes anticipating Oikawa’s predictable ‘naturally’ or ‘did you think they wouldn’t’. 

“I’m sorry that must be hard,” Iwaizumi was surprised. It was a very un-Toru answer. 

“It’s fine, I should have expected it,” Iwaizumi sighed. 

They were both quiet for a few minutes, neither wanting to hang up but both found it hard to find something to talk about. 

“I miss you Toru,” Iwaizumi finally said. 

“I miss you too Hajime. Do you want to come over?” 

“That’s probably a bad idea.”

“You’re probably right.” 

“I can excuse myself and be there in twenty?” 

“I’ll leave the door unlocked.” 

“Wait Toru.” 

“Ya?” 

“Make it thirty, I have to stop by my house and grab some socks first.” 


	2. Proposals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um well sometimes you've got to get through some angst before it gets good. But don't worry I'd never leave you sad. ^.~

Proposals

Iwaizumi took a deep breath. He hadn’t gotten the courage to get out of his car yet. His left hand was tucked into his pocket and gently brushing against the velvet ring case tucked safely away. He watched the upstairs window that he knew was Oikawa’s room and stared. He finally opened the door of his car realizing it wasn’t going to get any easier. He knocked on the door, he scuffed his shoe against the ground and waited anxiously. 

“Iwaizumi,” he heard Oikawa’s mother say surprised. “It’s good to see you, Toru didn’t mention that you were coming by. Please come in,” she opened the door wider. “Everyone is in the dining room.” 

“Oh, thank you,” dining room? Oh crap, it was still Thanksgiving! Oh crap Iwaizumi ditched his whole family on Thanksgiving. He gulped and walked into the dining room. 

“Iwa-chan!” Oikawa smiled, getting up from the table and went to hug him. 

“Hi Toru, it’s good to see you.” Oikawa smiled at him, he seemed surprised that he used his given name. 

“I’m so glad to see you,” Oikawa’s face shined. “Come sit down, we’re having dinner right now. You can sit next to me.” 

“Ok, thanks,” Iwaizumi felt extremely awkward. He hadn’t thought about this type of situation at all. He imagined he would come over, tell Oikawa he was sorry, kiss him, maybe propose first then make love or the other way around. But sitting down and eating dinner with all of Oikawa’s family, that hadn’t really crossed his mind. He stared mostly at his own hands, waiting awkwardly for the four other people he didn’t know to take food before it reached him. 

“I’m glad you came,” Oikawa whispered as they exchanged stuffing for potatoes. 

“I’m sorry to come over without thinking,” Oikawa shook his head and smiled graciously. Iwaizumi ate his meal in silence, trying desperately to ignore the quiet buzzing in his pocket. Tried not to think about his livid mother on the other end of the line. After about the seventh call he excused himself to the bathroom, which the Oikawa relatives seemed surprised he knew the way to. He saw the three texts from his mom and four from each of her sisters. He rolled his eyes and texted her that he had gone to Oikawa’s on a whim with a gift. 

He locked his screen and after a moment clicked so it turned back on. The picture of Oikawa smiling while snuggled in between all of Iwaizumi’s pillows greeted him. 

His mother’s text interrupted the gorgeous reminder of why he was here. ‘Great news. The whole family is waiting for the yes.’ His cheeks flushed, he wasn't even going to ask how she knew he was planning on proposing. His mother had her weird quirks and Iwaizumi wasn't about to stress himself out trying to keep up with them. He looked at pillow snuggling Oikawa one more time before heading back to the dining table. 

The conversation carried mostly without Iwaizumi’s input, which was fine with him. He was comfortable watching Oikawa socialize with his relatives. Breaching the conversation meant risking the question of how he fit into the little feast they were all enjoying. The curiosity was barely controlled as it was, Iwaizumi often caught the extended family glancing at him and whispering to each other. It didn't get better as dinner ended and dessert was served in the living room, with everyone more spread out it just let them talk and stare in little clusters. Iwaizumi was pretty much resigned to being the topic of gossip alone when Oikawa walked over, a gleam of mischief in his eyes. 

“Iwa-chan,” he grinned holding two plates of cake. “Let's go up to my room to eat our cake.”

“Isn't that rude to your family?” Iwaizumi asked even though he was already standing. 

“They’ll be fine, let’s go upstairs. I’m sure you came here for a reason,” Oikawa smiled. “Let’s go,” he took Iwa-chan’s hand and drug him up the stairs. Iwaizumi smiled as he entered the familiar room and stood inside. 

“So what did you come all this way for? You sounded very nostalgic on the phone.” 

“Yes, I...I’ve been regretting our break up.” Oikawa looked surprised. 

“Well everyone gets that way around the holidays,” he turned away from Iwaizumi. 

“It’s more than that Toru,” Iwaizumi took his hand. 

“You said you were sure when you broke up with me,” Oikawa still wouldn’t look at him. 

“I know, and I was. It wasn’t something I put us through on a whim.” 

“Is this?” Oikawa’s question caught Iwaizumi off guard. He turned to try and catch his eye but Oikawa was still looking away from him. 

“I will admit to acting without much thought this time. But-”

“Iwa,” Oikawa’s voice was a whisper in the suddenly quiet room. “I can't go through losing you again. You had weeks if not months to practice, you pictured us apart, you imagined your life with and without me, you probably had a few different versions of the ‘we’re done speech’. I had a few gasping seconds. I was wholly and completely unprepared to lose you. And I can't put myself through that again.” He turned to face Iwaizumi with tears brimming his eyes. 

Iwaizumi was quiet for a long time. His fists clenched and unclenched. His fingernails bit harshly into his palms as he did. The ring felt like it was pulling his jeans down to his ankles from the weight of it. “Why did you ask me to come up here alone with you then? You clearly had some idea of what I wanted to talk with you about. And it seemed more like something someone who was eager to say yes would do, not what someone who would reject me would do.” 

“We had to get to it eventually Iwa, I figured this was better than me dragging it on through dessert. I wasn't trying to be cruel,” Oikawa looked down. 

“No its, I mean you have every right to say no.” 

“Technically you didn't ask, so I didn't say no, we just talked about our last break up and both realized it was still in effect. And that it should probably stay that way.” 

“Ya, you're right of course, I need to head home.” Iwaizumi reached and grabbed his keys from his other pocket and headed for Oikawa’s door. 

“I'm sorry Iwa-chan,” Oikawa whispered. 

“There's nothing to be sorry for Toru. I'm sorry for leaving,” he put his hand gently on Oikawa’s shoulder and let his hand fall, fingers tracing the bare skin, brushing against his hand for a few seconds instead of gripping it for hours like he'd prefer. He wished he had the strength to say ‘I love you’ before he left. He shut the door of Oikawa’s room in between them. He wished he had enough courage to propose anyways. He walked down the stairs and braced to say goodbye to the family. He wished that he had a note of something to leave Oikawa, something to explain his sudden reappearance in his lover's life. He hugged Oikawa’s parents and apologized for coming over unannounced, thanked them for their hospitality, assured them he would visit more. He wished he had something he could make one last grand gesture with. He walked out the front door. He wished he could see his life without Shittykawa in it. He got into his car. He wished he didn't get in the way of his own happiness so much. 

‘Did he say yes?!’ 

He ignored the text from his mom. He turned on his car, and drove away. 

Goodbye 1946 Suki Ct. 

Goodbye Toru. 

O&I

Goodbye lasted for about two days, until third period rolled around and Oikawa and Iwaizumi were once again in the same classroom. In about two hours they would share the same lunch hour, about an hour after that the same final period before having the same practice time. Being the ace was actually a daunting task now because it meant constant and frequent practice with the setter, Oikawa. A lot of the first year hitters were jealous of that, Iwaizumi had actually considered dropping out of the volleyball team after the break up, but Oikawa had yelled at him for it. Right now he wished he had left though. What was one last high school tournament. He sighed. 

Going into the locker room he made sure he was running five minutes late, Toru was always five minutes early. It meant that they were never alone together, something both of them had silently agreed would be best. So he was startled to see Oikawa dressed and ready to head down leaning against the locker Iwaizumi needed. 

“Shittykawa,” he grumbled, setting his bag down in the corner and taking his shoes off. 

“Don't be mean Iwa-chan,” Oikawa pushed off of the locker. “I won't be long but Watari has been spamming the team with weird texts about you all day long and being the only person who has been sexually involved with you on the team it's my duty to investigate.” 

“What the hell does our sex life have to do with this?” Iwaizumi was annoyed and red cheeked. 

“It doesn't look like you're sporting to me.” 

“What the hell?” Iwaizumi was blushing crimson. 

“Watari accused you of being aroused all day long. So let's see it, what's in your pocket?” Oikawa held out his hand. Iwaizumi paled. 

“Nothing fuck off,” he turned away and considered ditching practice for the day. 

“Iwa!” Oikawa chastised. 

“Just go to practice Toru.” 

“Unless you want Watari to keep tormenting you when you get down I need to tell the team what on earth you’ve been carrying around all day to make him think it’s a partial.” 

“I don’t care what they gossip about,” Iwaizumi ripped his shirt off and fished in his locker for his practice clothes. 

“It must be really bad for you to say something like that Iwa,” Oikawa had a teasing tone to his voice. But Iwaizumi relaxed as it meant that Oikawa was preparing to leave. Iwaizumi slipped out of his school pants and pulled on shorts instead. He heard the door close and breathed a sigh of relief. It would have been humiliating for Oikawa of all people to find the engagement ring that he had so foolishly taken with him that day on a whim. He should have left it at home, he knew that, but after being rejected it was somehow able to make him feel better. ‘Toru & Hajime’ was engraved on the inside of the gold band. Iwaizumi prefered silver himself but he knew how flashy Oikawa was and knew without a doubt that he would have prefered gold. He felt more composed as he shoved his clothes into his bag to grab out later and slipped into his shoes. He headed down the steps and towards the gym, ready to trade out his court shoes when he saw all of his teammates crowded around one another. 

“What are you idiots doing, you should be warming up, come on,” the entire team turned to look at him with wide eyes and he suddenly felt extremely self conscious. 

“God Watari did you tell the entire team I was still aroused?” he cocked an eyebrow and attempted to maneuver out of an uncomfortable situation. Watari shook his head and most of the team turned away from him and started their laps. Oikawa stayed in place before quickly turning to face him and hiding something behind his back. 

“What’s with you?” Iwaizumi raised an eyebrow and finished tying his shoes. “Come on we have laps.” 

“I-it’s nothing,” Oikawa rushed out. “I uh, I left something in the locker room so I’m just going to head up and grab it.” 

“What did you leave?” Iwaizumi asked, growing suspicious. 

“My uh knee brace.” 

“You’re wearing it.” 

“Oh am I? I meant to take it off, yup, need to leave it in my bag.” 

“You’ll hurt your knee then,” Iwaizumi looked at him like he was an idiot. 

“Ok ya, be right back,” Oikawa went to run by Iwaizumi but he grabbed his arm and jerked him back. 

“What’s wrong with you,” Iwaizumi asked as something fell from Oikawa’s other hand, Oikawa tried desperately to catch it but he couldn’t. The ring box hit the floor and Iwaizumi just stared at him. His heart stopped. The entire team  _ knew _ that he had planned on proposing? He felt shame twisting in his gut as it whirled around and around, it left him in gasping pain, his vision was going blurry from the sheer nasia building up. He released Oikawa’s arm like it burned him. He slipped his court shoes off and left them in the middle of the floor, he walked to the locker room in his socks and slowly made his way up the steps. 

Oikawa bent to pick up the velvet box and tears streamed down his face. Why did Iwa-chan have something like this with him at school? Why had he not hid it better so that Oikawa hadn’t been able to pick it out of his pants easily. Why hadn’t he just minded his own damn business instead of making things even worse for him and Iwa-chan. He ran up the stairs after Iwa-chan. 

“Hajime,” he said slamming the door open. “I’m s-”

“I don’t care,” Iwaizumi’s voice said dully. “Keep it, throw it away, show it off to everyone and laugh, I don’t care what you do.” 

“Iwa-chan please,” Oikawa was crying. 

“There’s nothing to ask for Oikawa-san,” Toru tried not to flinch from the pain. “Things are done between us, you made that crystal clear at Thanksgiving. I should have thrown it away that night, or given it to some jeweler. The point is I should have gotten rid of it already.” 

“Hajime no,” Oikawa sobbed. “Ask me, I’ll say ‘yes’ I promise,” Oikawa was shaking from his sobs. 

Iwaizumi shook his head, fighting back tears of his own. “I don’t want to anymore.” 

“Iwa, please.” 

“No, you were right, we don’t work.” He balled his fists up. “I’m going home, I’m not coming back. This thing we’ve been doing where we pretend we’re ok, I can’t do it anymore. I’m done, ok? I won’t call again, I won’t ask you for anything again, ok? It’s done, this time, we’re done.” 

Iwaizumi walked down the steps and Oikawa’s sobs grew louder as he screamed. He slammed his fists onto the floor, why had he done it. It was so stupid, Iwaizumi had clearly not wanted to tell him what was in his pocket and now, he was losing everything. His most trusted spiker on the court, his ace, his best friend, the love of his life. His Iwa-chan. He had messed everything up. The players on the court didn’t bother their captain or comment on puffy bloodshot eyes when he joined them an hour later. They all forced the coach away from him when he tried to bother him about where he had been. But mostly they ignored the fact that Iwaizumi was not there. 

O&I

The next day Oikawa didn’t see Iwaizumi in either of their shared classes. He found out later from Kindaichi that Iwaizumi had swapped his third and sixth period. All of Oikawa hurt. He had finally been numb to seeing Iwaizumi when all of this came up again. He was mad, angry that Iwaizumi was the one who had brought it all back again and then just given up. By the time sixth period came around he was angrily tapping his pencil against the top of his desk. When the bell rang he raced out of the room and headed towards the third period classroom. He watched like a hawk for Iwaizumi. 

“Hey,” he reached out and grabbed Iwaizumi’s arm. 

“Back off,” Iwaizumi glared at Oikawa. It was like ice, it sent shivers down Oikawa’s spine but he didn’t back off. 

“We need to talk.” 

“I told you we’re not going to do that anymore,” Iwaizumi said, trying to turn away. 

“You don’t just get to decide that.” 

“It’s like sex Oikawa, if one person doesn’t want to that person wins. With all the people you sleep with surely you’ve at least picked up on that much.” Despite the people staring at them and Oikawa’s cheeks burning he didn’t back down. 

“I still love you,” Oikawa said. 

“Congratulations.” 

“I know you love me too Hajime,” Oikawa said, tugging on his arm to try and get him to turn and face him. “You wouldn’t have been carrying that around with you if you didn’t love me too.” 

Iwaizumi shrugged his shoulders. “I was going to sell it back to a jeweler.” 

“I don’t believe you, you wouldn’t have cut all ties if that were true.” 

“It’s still pretty embarrassing you found out I ever cared that much.” 

“Why is it so hard for you to just say you still love me? I told you that I love you. I told you that I’d say yes. So the only thing else that I can do is ask you. Iwa-chan, please, marry me?” 

Iwaizumi did turn around at that. His shoulders were tense. Dozens of classmates looked on as the two stood frozen. Oikawa hadn’t gone down on his knee or anything, but it was still obvious what was happening to any of the people who had gathered around. 

“We have so many problems it’s not even funny,” Iwaizumi said. 

“Marry me.” 

“Love isn’t always enough, life catches up and you have to be able to talk to each other and trust one another when you’re apart.” 

“Marry me.” 

“You can’t just keep saying that stubbornly and not addressing all the issues we have.” 

“I know we aren’t perfect. I’m not asking you for a fairytale, I’m asking you, a flawed person, to marry me, another flawed person. And to share a life of compromise and hardships together. But I’m also asking you, an imperfect man that I love perfectly, to marry me, a persistent man. And to share what I believe could be an imperfectly perfect love story. I know we can make it. I’m sorry I don’t have a ring, I’ll ditch practice and go buy one if you want, but please,” he fell down onto his knee in front of everyone, girls squealing and classmates that knew the two in shock at their openness. “Marry me?” 

Iwaizumi smiled. He sighed and held his hand out. “Give it back Toru,” Oikawa’s heart clenched and he stood, taking the ring box from his backpack and placing it into Iwaizumi’s hand and trying desperately to swallow the lump in his throat. “I have a ring already,” Iwaizumi opened the box and took Toru’s hand. Toru met his eyes suddenly as the gold ring touched his skin. “Yes,” Iwaizumi smiled lopsided at him. 

“Iwa!” Toru threw his arms around him and kissed him as their classmates laughed and clapped and took pictures to send around the school. 

  
  



End file.
